Month: May 2007

With all the excitement about Music Fest, don’t forget that this Saturday is the first week for the 2007 Memphis Farmers Market. Just checked their site and they have a GREAT lineup of performances for opening day. From 8 to 9:30 AM they have Beatles/British Invasion musician Jeff Golightly… then from 9:30 to 1 PM Ken and Robyn Greene will play. Those are some excellent and talented musicians… why does this event have to take place so blasted early in the morning? Also, at 10:30 the dancers of Desert Rose will put on a belly dance demo.

If you’re there for the food, best to get there right at 7 AM for your pick of strawberries, lettuce, arugula, micro-greens, spinach, radishes, broccoli, broccoli rabe, carrots, red beets, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, goat cheese, beef, chicken, pork, eggs, fruit trees and shrubs.

Hungry? Two of the best chefs in the city, Michael Patrick (EP’s – 9:00) and Felicia Willett (Felicia Suzanne’s – 11:00) will give cooking demos. There’s also a new Market Cafe this year serving breakfast and lunch foods.

There will be pottery demos at 8 and 10, and MFM will give away free slices of strawberry cake at 9:30.

What a schedule… looks like I’m going to have to choose between sleep and the Farmers Market. This looks too good to miss.

This is gonna be a super-quick one. A couple of rumors I heard while hanging out on my rooftop last night:

– The old Empire Coffee location at Madison and Main is apparently being converted into a shoe store. Hope they don’t cover the ceiling.

– I also heard that the people renovating the Lincoln-American Tower expect to have people moving in about 9 months from now, and there may be a Starbucks in the building.

I haven’t confirmed either of these (what do I look like, a real journalist?) so if you have any more info let me know.

Also, I read in the Commercial Appeal this morning that there will be a Music Fest after-party at Handy Park (Third at Beale) from 8 PM to 1:30 AM Friday and Saturday nights. I’m definitely going to be there Saturday, because a group I’ve been wanting to hear for a long time will perform – Lord T and Eloise. Several of my friends have told me I must see them, that they’re developing a cult following here in Memphis… apparently it’s a couple of rich, aristocratic Memphis University School grads who do hardcore rap. If anyone knows exactly what time they’re playing Saturday let me know.

And that’ll do it for now. Much more to come, when I get some time to post.

After more than a week of work, I’m ready to announce that my new online store is ready for public viewing.

When I got into online marketing, people told me, “Paul, build a store around a product that you enjoy. Build a store around a product that makes you happy.”

So, I thought to myself, what makes me happy? …TUBE TOPS!!!

Therefore, I’m pleased to announce the grand opening of the Tube Top Boutique. Click the link and you’ll find hundreds of tube tops, tube dresses, and related products. You know, when I was doing the preliminary marketing research for the site, I was surprised to discover that “tube dress” as a search term is more than twice as popular as “tube top.” But that’s okay, we gotcha covered (well, except for your shoulders) with well over 100 dresses.

The site also has related categories as well, including tube top jumpsuits, maternity tube tops, strapless bras (although it’s perfectly acceptable to skip the bra and go au naturel underneath your tube top), and rompers. Not sure what a romper is? Hang on, let me post a pic of a romper.

There ya go. That’s what a romper looks like. It’s a one-piece tube-top-and-shorts set, usually made of terrycloth. We’ve got about a dozen of ’em on the site. The model in the pic above, by the way, was the co-hostess of the ’70s party on the roof of my building, Number 10 Main, last weekend. I added a special “almost a tube top” section to the site just for her, because it took two years of training to teach her that if it has straps, it isn’t a tube top.

Here’s a picture of the other host of the ’70s party, who made a special guest appearance all the way from 1977:

The best outfit of the evening, though, pre-dated disco by a few years. Straight from 1972, here’s the man who’s totally working the ‘fro, our very own Skippy.

Here’s a pic of Skippy line dancing. He requested the song, “Electric Slide,” by the way.

All right… with the ’70s pics out of the way, let’s get back to the tube top store for a moment. All the orders are processed by Amazon.com, so you know you’ll get excellent service and that your credit card information will be safe and secure. This is my first attempt at building my own Amazon-based store… maybe it’ll be successful, maybe not, but at least if it fails I’ll learn from my mistakes.

I have more ideas for online stores… the one I’m thinking about doing next will feature a particular place… a very, very wonderful place… rather than a clothing item.

So if you’re a female who likes to buy tube tops, be sure to check out the Tube Top Boutique. Tube Top Month is a month away, so you still have plenty of time to order. Guys, sorry, there’s not a lot of shopping for you to do at the new store, but I still like to believe it’s a store that will benefit men indirectly.

Alrighty then… think I’ll go up to the rooftop and watch the sunset, then get a few things done around the apartment, then go drink a celebratory beer. Back tomorrow with more to say.